BBC interview

We woke up in Manchester this morning. Our hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Salford Quays is almost painfully geared towards BBC staff and their guests. I've stayed there before. There's free wifi, a big swanky desk in each room, and power sockets on every inch of wall.

It annoys me slightly. The BBC must waste the most astounding amount of money getting their guests and part-time staff from London to Manchester. I'm afraid no one on earth will ever convince me that major shows like BBC Breakfast have benefitted from moving to Manchester. How many of the big-named guests and politicians that people genuinely want to see interviewed are ever going to be passing through a Northern city? Or, for that matter, be that fussed about heading up to one for the sake of a five-minute interview? I'm a great fan of regionality, but by far the largest number of theatres and cultural institutions are in London and, because of this; that's the place where the interviews need to happen. End of. Television Centre should never have been closed.

The interview itself was a bit surreal. The presenter was charming, but I instantly did the thing where I realised I was being watched live by 2 million people and just wanted to swear! When there's three of you on the sofa, there's always someone else who can jump in. Usually Nathan!

I realised when people started tweeting pictures of us on air how much this gruelling project has affected the way I look. I'm two stone heavier and embarrassingly jowly. The fact that I've comfort eaten my way through the hell makes me feel rather ashamed and angry with myself. I genuinely can't wait to sort my sorry self out!

We took the train back to London and worked all the way. I've been carefully prepping this weekend's recalls for Brass. It turns out I've recalled far fewer young people than I'd initially thought, which means we'll really have the time to be able to work the auditionees hard and find out who has the right spirit to be a Brasser.

During the afternoon we attended the technical rehearsal at the Arts Theatre. It's all going well, I think. They're getting through the show at a good speed and the teams are brilliantly efficient. The dress rehearsals start tomorrow. Cressida the choreographer and Luke the director had things very much in hand, so we felt a little like spare parts and took ourselves home for the evening to recharge a bit before the final push next week. I will be at the theatre now solidly, every night, for the next two weeks.

I'll leave you with a pearl of wisdom from the lovely (if not a little macabre) Sharon Needles from Ru Paul's Drag Race

"If anyone boos you off stage, that's just applause from ghosts."